Yellowcard returns to the 805 for Warped Tour on June 24

Plug into the punk power of Yellowcard, and dozens of other bands, at Sunday's Warped Tour stop in Ventura

The members of Yellowcard — bassist Josh Portman (from left), drummer Longineu Parsons, singer-guitarist Ryan Key, violinist-vocalist Sean Mackin and guitarist Ryan Mendez — are psyched about their summerlong Warped Tour jaunt. "I mean, as a fan of this kind of music, this is the best ticket you'll ever be able to buy," Key says. "You're going to able to see everything you want to see."

Contributed photo

The 18th annual Warped Tour will stop in Ventura on Sunday, featuring more than 80 bands at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 Harbor Drive. Gates open at 11:30 a.m. The tour also will be in Pomona today at the Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W. Mckinley Ave. For tickets to either show, $35, visit warpedtour.com.

Ventura band lineup

Taking Back Sunday, All Time Low, The Used, New Found Glory, Streetlight Manifesto, Yellowcard, Pierce The Veil, Four Year Strong, Of Mice And Men, We The Kings, Breathe Carolina, Miss May I, Falling In Reverse, Anti-Flag, Every Time I Die, Mayday Parade, blessthefall, Chelsea Grin, For Today, Memphis May Fire, Motionless In White, Rise To Remain, Sleeping With Sirens, The Ghost Inside, Vampires Everywhere!, Title Fight, You Me At Six, Bayside, Senses Fail, Vanna, Polar Bear Club, We Are The In Crowd, Man Overboard, A Loss For Words, Funeral Party, I Fight Dragons, I Am The Avalanche, Hyro Da Hero, Wax, Echo Movement, G-Eazy, Stepdad, The Constellations, Ballyhoo!, Champagne Champagne, T. Mills, Tomorrows Bad Seeds, Mod Sun, The Green, Neo Geo, iwrestledabearonce, Born Of Osiris, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, Fireworks, Transit, Cold Forty Three, Sleepwalker, CatchingYourClouds, Make Do And Mend, Matt Toka, Tonight Alive, Skip The Foreplay, Divided By Friday, The Jukebox Romantics, We Are The Ocean, Ten Second Epic, The Silver Comet, After The Burial, Dead Sara, It Boys!, Living With Lions, Impending Doom, Slatr, Railroad To Alaska, A Loss For Words, Into It. Over It., Koji, Brian Marquis, Transit, Vinnie Caruana, Anthony Raneri, Kristopher Roe, Wick-It The Instigator and Tony D'Angelo.

Live stream

Live performances from Ventura's Warped Tour stop will be streamed by Fuse beginning at 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Yellowcard, Taking Back Sunday, New Found Glory, We the Kings, All Time Low and The Used are slated to be featured. To watch the stream, visit youtube.com/fuse or vanswarpedtour.com.

Yellowcard video

Yellowcard are seeking 200 fans to be part of the music video for their song "Here I Am Alive" from their new album, "Southern Air." The video shoot will take place Monday at 1328 Lake Shore Ave., Los Angeles. Participants should arrive at 6:30 p.m. and must be at least 18 years old with a valid ID. For updates, check twitter.com/yellowcard. For more information about the band, visit yellowcardrock.com.

The weekly commotion by the ocean, most often involving the roar of race cars careening around the high-banked oval that is the Ventura Raceway, will be replaced on Sunday by the just-as-loud — but hopefully more melodic — 18th annual Warped Tour. Still a bargain at just 35 George Washingtons, it's a chance to check out scores of bands on numerous stages, all going off with German-army precision.

Our Warped will be the 13th consecutive for Ventura, and is one of 41 stops this year.

Blame Jeff Spicoli, the stoner finhead from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," wearing those checkered Vans, still the sponsor of the tour. Pretty much a celebration of youth culture, — those who already know everything and refuse to trust anybody older than 30 — the Warped Tour is sort of a rock 'n' roll swap meet with nearly every band and label manning a booth trying to sell you something.

Most of the bands do a meet-and-greet, and there's plenty of free stuff — also important stuff, such as info about anti-racism, PETA and health issues.

When it began, the Warped Tour was basically a bunch of punk bands — not so much anymore. While there's still lots of loud and fast punk rock, there's also plenty of pop punk and even too many of the dreaded scream-o bands. A few years ago when Alesana began their first song, all the fish swam out past the Channel Islands and people trapped in adjacent booths had their hands over their ears, probably a sign that, for many, scream-o was stinko.

Basically, the Warped Tour is pretty much all the bands that appear in Alternative Press magazine. The big names this year include New Found Glory, Anti-Flag, All Time Low, Taking Back Sunday, Mayday Parade and a band with 805 priors, Yellowcard.

Named for a warning in soccer, Yellowcard got started in Jacksonville, Fla., but relocated to the 805 to become rock stars. They played at a lot of local shows and got signed to Lobster Records, which released "One for the Kids" in 2001.

Their basic pop punk sound was sort of like kettle corn with the mystery ingredient: sugar. Yellowcard's secret ingredient was and is Sean Mackin, a violin player.

Yellowcard was then signed to Capitol, and the band's first big hit was "Ocean Avenue" in 2003.

After five years of touring and recording, the band members were burned out and needed a break. They announced an "indefinite hiatus" in 2008. Frontman Ryan Key used the time off to leave SoCal behind, heading toward the East Coast to be near his family. He ended up in Athens, Ga., and did lots of soul searching. He calls the period a "crucial" and "developmental chapter" in his life.

"I learned so much about the future I thought I was so uncertain about," he writes in a post on the band's website,

YellowcardRock.com. "I saw more clearly the things that really mattered, and (it) really moved me."

The band emerged rested and rejuvenated in 2010, pouring their "renewed energy and passion" into the album "When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes." The group then embarked on a nine-month, 30-country tour. It was grueling, but exhilarating. When it was over last year, band members were so pumped up they wanted to get right back into the studio.

The new album, "Southern Air," came together quickly. The 10-track set, including such songs as "Rivertown Blues," " Here I Am Alive" and "Always Summer," is set for release Aug. 14 on Hopeless Records.

"This record has such an overwhelming sense of self-awareness and positive energy that I credit completely to my ability to reconnect with my Southern roots," Key writes on YellowcardRock.com. "The title, along with much of the lyrical content, takes me to Georgia State Highway 316, or A1A through Neptune Beach, Fla., where I am driving with the windows down belting the words along to my favorite songs. I feel like a lot of the album is saying thank you to my family, friends, and fans, for supporting us all of these years."

During a recent phoner, Key discussed the latest as he prepared for this year's summerlong Warped jaunt.

No, no, not at all. Money would be nice, but we're working pro bono right now — last year we considered it a rebuilding year for the franchise, so we're still kind of climbing the mountain, and trying to get back where we want to be. "Rich rock stars" are definitely not the words I would use to describe the five of us.

But you guys are still more fun than soccer, right?

We're having a good time, dude — the fact that we're still able to come out and do this every day and make a living, and know that we're working toward a goal and getting closer to it every day, just getting the band back to where we want it to be. I wouldn't trade our job for anything in the world.

Tell me about the new one. Where does "Southern Air" fit in with your vast body of work?

I just got a message from a friend who is the owner-creator of one of the bigger websites in the genre — they cover all kinds of music, but it started in the vein of Yellowcard, New Found Glory, Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy and those kinds of bands. He just received his copy of our new album and texted and told me this is the essential Yellowcard album. He said, "I'm in awe. This could be the culmination of all the work you've ever done in the band." So to hear that from a person who's been covering our band for almost our entire career, it's just amazing, and I probably couldn't have said it better. It really is a very essential record — it's got a lot of heart in it and we put a lot of heart into it.

What's the ideal lag time between releasing albums?

We've been all over the place throughout our career. … We released our last album, "When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes," last year and went in for preproduction for this album this year, so it's a quick turnaround. We really wanted to be a part of the Warped Tour this summer, and if we were going to do that, we wouldn't be able to record. … I think we really have great momentum now — fans are really excited about the band and there's even a new wave of fans coming. The word is spreading again about the band; we really want to capture that energy and stay on the wave.

Tell me a Warped Tour story. What's that like?

This one's going to be really interesting, because at this point, we're the elder statesmen of the tour.

Wow, geezers of rock; who knew?

This actually marks the 10-year anniversary of us being on the Warped Tour — 2002 was our first year, so that's pretty special. The lineup this year is incredible and many of our close, close friends are going to be out here with us all summer. I mean, as a fan of this kind of music, this is the best ticket you'll ever be able to buy. You're going to able to see everything you want to see. You'll be totally satisfied no matter what city you live in. We're … rehearsing next to All Time Low (our buses are parked next to each other), so the feeling is already starting. Excitement is in the air and we are just so stoked to be here.

This will be a preview for the Ventura Warped Tour. How many fans are still around from Camarillo High School, and how many of them do you suppose will show up?

Hopefully, a lot. Ventura, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Agoura — that whole area was a very important place in the development of Yellowcard. We moved to California in 2000 or 2001 after recording our first independent record and settled there permanently, so all the shows we were playing the first couple of years were in that area and we developed such an amazing fan base. Hopefully all the people that used to come see us at the Ventura Theater will be there.

You guys actually got signed out of the 805, right?

Yeah, we got signed by Lobster Records in Santa Barbara and that was really the motivation for moving to that part of California. Santa Barbara is a little too expensive, but we were close enough to the label.

Didn't some of you live across the street from Camarillo High School?

I lived with my girlfriend for about a year at her mom's house, and it was right there at Camarillo High.

And it's still a good idea to have the violin guy?

Yeah, that's continued to work out for us. The single we put out a week or so ago was the first time we actually had a violin solo. The reaction from the fans was incredible. They were really stoked to hear something like that. It's always been a cool thing and set us apart as a band.

Any memorably oddball gigs?

We had a gig early on in Arizona in this basement venue that held, like, 200 people, but when we got there, the doors were locked and there were 20 kids outside going to the show. One guy says, "Hey, my band has a rehearsal space — we can go there." So we jumped in the van and drove out of town to this storage space and crammed 30 people into this 10-by-10 little room and just rocked out. We did a whole show there in the storage unit. We did a lot of stuff like that back in the day.

What advice would you give to the next generation?

Play as much as possible. You have to throw out any possible Plan B's you've ever had because when it gets tough — and it will get tough — it's really easy to give up and say, "Well, there's another thing I can go do instead." What was essential for Yellowcard is that we all put in 100 percent, everything we have. We're not going back because there's nothing to go back to. With no other option, we had to make it, and I always tell younger bands that's a great attitude to have. Like the story I just told you about playing in the storage space, never be too good for anything. Always play your music for whoever wants to hear it.

For more on music, local bands and new albums, check out Bill Locey's Rockin' Roll Call blog at blogs.venturacountystar.com/locey. Email Locey at blocey@pacbell.net.